The Elouera speedster Elly Graf was back on the beach yesterday to claim her fifth Open Women’s Beach Sprint title at the 2015 Australian Surf Life Saving Championships at North Kirra.
Just the day before she was named in the Australian team for the IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas next month.
A top-eight place at the World Relays could put Graf on a path to the Rio Olympics, and victory in the beach dash has her well on the path to becoming the surf lifesaving’s greatest female sprinter.
Title number five drew Graf level with Terrigal’s Veronica Lee, who dominated beach sprinting in the 1990s, as the sport’s most successful sprinter.
“Considering I haven’t been at Aussies for the last two years I’m very happy with how it went today,” the 24-year-old said.
"This is probably only my second surf carnival this season because I have been working on the track.
“I love it here competing in surf, the atmosphere and being with the club is good fun.”
Graf was drawn in lane nine on what proved to be the favoured side of the track and, after dominating her semi-final, showed her customary power to win the final by a clear margin from latest Currumbin recruit Brittany Brymer and former Cronulla runner Bree Masters (Kurrawa).
She is keen to keep coming back to the beach to add to her tally of gold medals but bigger things may be on the horizon in the next 18 months, especially if Graf and her team do well on the track in the Bahamas and guarantee a place at Rio 2016.
“Rio is the target, mainly for relays but getting there as an individual would be a bonus,” Graf said.
In the under-19 women’s, New Zealander Zoe Hobbs (Fitzroy, NZ) finished ahead of Elouera's Renee Stortenbecker and Kaitlin Mott (Helensburgh-Stanwell Park).- Renee picks up the gold medal and Aussie championship being the first Australian home.
Elouera finished with 2 gold and a bronze from the beach but Helensburgh -Stanwell Park were also in the medals with a relay gold and several podium finishes showing the depth of theie beach squad.
